


Elytra

by 0pabinia



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Academia, Alternate Universe - Graduate School, Bugs & Insects, Entomology, F/F, Grief/Mourning, I have not posted fan fiction since the great cambrian biodiversification event, Museums, Other, Science, Season: Twilight Mirage, this is the self indulgent entomology grad student AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:01:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22182991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0pabinia/pseuds/0pabinia
Summary: The entomologist!⸢Signet⸣ AU. ⸢Signet⸣ is an overworked grad student at the entomology collection of a large natural history museum. Tender runs the bar she goes to after work. Bug-related shenanigans ensue.Warning: In this fic Belgard is portrayed as a deceased partner. Grief and depression over the loss of a loved on is discussed.
Relationships: Belgard/⸢Signet⸣ (Friends at the Table), Fourteen Fifteen/Tender Sky
Kudos: 6





	Elytra

⸢Signet⸣ took a deep breath and opened the exuvia. 

It was delicate, and slid right off her scalpel and tweezers the second she made the incision. The shed exoskeleton protested at its mistreatment and floated out of the range of her dissecting scope, essentially insuring that she would never finish with a clean cut. 

⸢Signet⸣ cursed and pushed her roller chair back from the desk in frustration. 

“Stupid thing. It’s past time for dinner.” 

⸢Signet⸣ cleaned her scalpel and tweezers, placing them neatly back into their case. She turned off the scope, casting the dust cover derisively over it. In her haste, she kicked a piece of spare pinning styrofoam, causing the case of number 2 pins balanced on top to explode all over the lab floor. 

⸢Signet⸣ shrugged, grabbed her key, and headed out for dinner. 

⸢Signet⸣ wound her way through the halls of the entomology collection. She bypassed the breakroom where she usually microwaved her soggy, sad potato pancake frozen meals. The failure with the rare beetle exuvia had pissed the hell out of her. She deserved some real food. 

The hallway lights flickered on as she approached the corridor in front of her. All the other staff had long since gone home. That left her and Jeremy, the janitor, who was mopping by the rear exit. ⸢Signet⸣ waved to him as she passed.

The wind battered ⸢Signet⸣'s high ponytail as she loped down the museum steps, around the corner, and down 19th Avenue. Today's disappointment was just another drop in a sea of failures, beginning when her partner died two years ago, which had spiraled her into a deep depression, which had spiraled into a ridiculously late dissertation, which had meant the loss of her loaned samples… It just all built and built on itself until ⸢Signet⸣ had boxed her life into a dingy museum lab. It was lonely. 

That was when she had found the Steady. Blooming had taken her there once for drinks after work. She wasn’t normally one for bars, but the atmosphere was fun and the music wasn’t too loud. It also helped that Blooming knew the bartender. Also that Tender had winked at her and slid her number over the bar along with a gin and tonic. 

She and Tender hadn’t worked out, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t started up a fast friendship. ⸢Signet⸣ would go down to the Steady on nights she knew would be slow, and Tender turned down the music so they could talk for hours into the night. It made ⸢Signet⸣ feel almost human.

Sometimes, however, ⸢Signet⸣ just went because she needed some food she hadn’t prepared herself. Unfortunately, those times always seemed to be when the bar was busiest. ⸢Signet⸣ pushed open the sound-proofed door, and was welcomed by the rumble of bass and the sweat and smell of too many bodies.

Tender’s back was turned when ⸢Signet⸣ came in, no doubt trying to make three customers’ drinks at once. Her purple hair was in an oversize ballerina bun on top of her head, and her tail bobbed to the beat of whatever House track she had put on tonight. ⸢Signet⸣ waved at her as she turned around, and Tender flashed a peace sign back. It was quite an impressive feat while holding three drinks.

Morning’s Observation was waiting tables today. He wove through the crowded room, ever so slightly off balance. He leaned in deep to give a customer next to ⸢Signet⸣ their drink, then the other way towards ⸢Signet⸣, in an awkward show of grace. It was terrifying to watch him work. 

“Hi ⸢Signet⸣! The usual?” 

⸢Signet⸣ nodded. “Hey, new tattoo?” 

Observation reached up to touch a tiny blue star under his left eye. “Yeah! How’d you notice?” 

“I’ve got a good eye for detail. How’s your project coming along?” 

Observation brightened. “It’s going pretty good! I’m working on getting a de-emulsifier that works at even under 4% milkfat. It’s slow going. But I thought of a name!” 

⸢Signet⸣ raised a blonde eyebrow. “Oh?”

“it’s called CalciYUMMM. Three m’s.” He stood there solemnly. 

Before ⸢Signet⸣ could react, a customer tapped Morning’s Observation on the shoulder, and he wheeled around, all the while apologizing to ⸢Signet⸣.

⸢Signet⸣ said it was no trouble, and that he’d better get back to work. Observation reminded her of herself during her undergrad days. Bright and determined and a little bit reckless, endlessly fascinated by research that was just a little too implausible to make good science. But he had really found a niche in edible materials science, and she was happy that he was happy. Even if he always burned the sandwiches in the panini press. 

She nursed her food and coffee (one of Morning’s Observation’s little solid milk blocks poked out of it), and waited for Tender to emerge from behind the bar. It turned out that was going to be a while. ⸢Signet⸣ had long since devoured her greasy pub food when Tender slid into the stool next to her.

“You know, we are a bar. We specialize in alcoholic drinks.”

⸢Signet⸣ smiled. “You’re just mad you had to fire up your ancient coffee machine for me.”

Tender stuck out her tongue and changed the subject. 

“How’s it going, ⸢Signet⸣?” 

⸢Signet⸣ just shrugged. “Fine with me. Same old project. I fucked up one of the old beetle exuviae today, one of the ones from the 1920s that’s been hanging out in a jar for 90 years? So, you know, fine.” 

Tender folded her hands into a triangle. “⸢Signet⸣, I have to be real with you, I don’t know half the words you just said, but I can tell that you fucked up something important and you’re mad at yourself again.” ⸢Signet⸣ sighed. 

Tender Sky was relentless. “Eat some food, take a break and feel better. Do you have anything going on this weekend, or can you be my plus-one to the roller rink?” 

⸢Signet⸣ sighed again. “I’ll think it over. It depends on how much energy I have left? You know the drill.

” “I do. And I know you work best when you’re around people! So why not let yourself get out once in a while?” 

Tender reached out to place a hand on⸢Signet⸣’s forearm. “You don’t have to punish yourself like this.” 

⸢Signet⸣ removed Tender’s hand from her arm. “Yes, I do. I messed up my life all by myself when Belgard died, and now I have to fix it. The way you solve a PhD is by slogging straight through it.” 

Tender cocked her head to one side. “If you say so. All I know is I have never accomplished anything good via slogging in my life. So think on that, would you?” 

“Anyway. If you’re feeling so studious, you should go to this lecture. It’s on arctic beetles? I read about it on twitter.” Tender held out her phone, and soon ⸢Signet⸣ heard the small “Ping!” noise that meant Tender had DM’d the link to her. 

“Thanks, Tender.” ⸢Signet⸣ reached across the table to cover Tender’s hands with her own. “I’m sorry. I’m in a funk, and I promise I’ll be a better friend in a couple of days. How’s Fourteen?” 

Tender was caught off guard. “They’re…good, y’know? I don’t they’ve quite figured out I’m flirting with them yet, but we’ll see if it all works out. I’m trying to tell myself that can’t stress about it too much, that it’s out of my control now, but you know how well that usually goes.” 

⸢Signet⸣ nodded. Fourteen Fifteen and Tender Sky had been dancing circles around each other for maybe years now. ⸢Signet⸣ had seen them a few times, with or without Tender, and every time they looked completely different from the last time ⸢Signet⸣ had seen them. They would come into town, spend a lot of time at The Steady for a couple of days, and then vanish without a trace for two to three weeks. The most ⸢Signet⸣ could get out of them about where they went or what they did for such long periods of time was a cryptic, “I’m a contractor.” 

⸢Signet⸣ smiled weakly. “That’s good. Don’t come on too strong, you’ll just knock them over.” 

Tender responded with a megawatt smile. “They’re very resilient. They can deal with me.” 


End file.
